Academic literature on the topic 'Comfort microclimatico indoor'

Abstract Currently, there is a rising trend for commercial buildings to use air conditioning to provide indoor thermal comfort. This paper focuses on the impact of prolonged exposure to indoor air-conditioned environments on occupants' thermal acceptability and preferences in a mixed-mode building in Brazil. Questionnaires were administered while indoor microclimatic measurements were carried out (i.e., air temperature, radiant air temperature, air speed and humidity). Results suggest significant differences in occupants' thermal acceptability and cooling preferences based on thermal history; differences were found between groups based on different physical characteristics (i.e., different gender and body condition). The findings also indicated a significant potential to implement temperature fluctuations indoors when occupants are exposed to air conditioning environments in warm and humid climates.

A Multiple (MSF) or Double Skin Facade (DSF) is a building envelope system. It has an external and internal layer that contains buffer space used for controlled windy conditions, ventilation and solar protection. Employing a multiple or double-skin facade for natural ventilation is not an innovative idea, but the background on this mechanism and the impacts of these environmental and designing factors on its performance are still unknown and critically needed. Therefore, with this study, the influences of the Multiple or Double Skin Facade with different width air gaps configurations, alongside the environmental factor on buoyant-driven natural ventilation, are discussed. Naturally ventilated MSFs are often very intriguing in terms of a microclimatic comfort, but an optimum design is crucial to enhance the microclimatic comfort and therefore the proper operation of the entire system. Especially, the development of the system is important when working in a hot climate. There is a significant lack of data within the current literature to demonstrate the complexity and challenges in designing large, naturally ventilated buildings. For these sorts of buildings, it is important to possess the tools to gauge a design’s predicted performance to realize successful natural ventilation concepts. However, with the utilization of glass, heat loss during the winter and solar gain during the summer will increase energy loads. At the same time, this will also negatively effect the microclimatic comfort. Through this study, both the effect of the utilization of multiple facades on indoor comfort conditions and thus the effects of distances at different distances from the facade on wind flow and therefore microclimatic comfort at the situation of the Multiple Skin Facades were investigated. This paper demonstrates through a sensitivity analysis, an optimal strategy for completing a CFD simulation of this special building envelope. This study also attempts to research a mechanically ventilated building with DSF configuration—a building in terms of indoor microclimatic thermal comfort. The aim of this study is to work out the effect of wind velocity and wind distribution on naturally ventilated buildings with DSF configuration, to work out if a DSF configuration will provide a far better microclimatic thermal comfort through natural ventilation. This study not only defines and analyzes the dimensional parameters of the air gap to maximize airflows, but also explores the importance of design decisions on system performance, such as the interaction between thermal mass and air gap distances and the building facade. Keywords: double skin facade, microclimatic thermal performance, airflow modelling, ındoor microclimatic thermal comfort, wind velocity, wind distribution, CFD, natural ventilation performance simulation

Wind discomfort and the dangers that the wind may lead can be harmful in terms of comfort conditions of both indoor and outdoor environment of the building/buildings to be constructed or just completed. The extent of discomfort to pedestrian varies from inducing slightly unpleasant feeling to producing a falling down hazard. Typically, the cause of frequent occurrences of strong wind at pedestrian area is primary related to the configuration of building structures and/or topography in the vicinity of the pedestrian area. Depending on the characteristics of the wind including magnitude, uniformity, ambient temperature, and so on, the level of disturbance to users of pedestrian areas can be different. In this context, the regions where Necmettin Erbakan University temporary education buildings are located have a fairly intensive topography in terms of wind. Therefore, detailed analysis of the inside regions and the surrounding areas of education buildings in particular are performed in terms of microclimatic comfort and indoor energy recovery. Especially, the topography where university campus temporary educational buildings are located has very high wind climate conditions compared to the city of Konya climate conditions. In this study, pedestrian-level wind conditions around N.E.U. campus buildings and in urban areas and the topography of campus settlements were analyzed through on-site measurement with Delta OHM microclimatic instruments. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pedestrian-level comfort conditions around the project buildings suggested by concept architects together with microclimatic measurements of comfort conditions, in the light of current topographic and climatic conditions presented by the head architect. However, presentation of these topographic and microclimatic measurements around currently completed temporary classrooms of the university campus have not yet been completed. The topography of the university campus, which is at an altitude higher than that of Konya centrum, is exposed to an extremely high wind velocity. The pedestrian-level comfort conditions are measured using Delta OHM instrument. The study also aims to compare pedestrian-level comfort conditions at locations of various buildings. In addition, outdoor comfort survey was also conducted in the campus area. However, measurement results of the microclimatic measurement device, DeltaOHM, are evaluated in this study. It can be observed from the results that pedestrian-level comfort of current campus settlements around the buildings reach very discomforting levels. Since the university’s topography varies between very high and very low temperature levels and wind velocity values, climatic comfort problems are observed in the area. Some reasons for the discomfort problems observed in current settlement are; incorrect use of climatic parameters, incorrect directions of buildings, thermal effects due incorrect selection of materials used in constructions of buildings. In order to achieve thermal comfort, more studies are required on pedestrian-level comfort, use of passive design techniques such as correct direction of buildings and correct selection of materials utilized in the buildings based on their thermal effects. This would help university campus buildings consume less energy and maximize people’s satisfaction.

Abstract The paper is aimed to illustrate how the study of the indoor microclimate, supported by the virtual simulation and by the knowledge of the historical evolutions of the building (managerial, usage and architectonical changes over the years), represents a preventive practice which allows to evaluate and predict the interactions between the object and the environment. To do that the authors present a case-study: room 33 in the Palace of Venaria Reale, in Turin, Italy. We have reproduced a virtual building model which presents the same indoor and outdoor microclimatic conditions of the original building. Moreover, we evaluated an alternative scenario that simulates the indoor microclimate of room 33 considering the HVAC systems continuously off. The comparison between the two virtual buildings allowed to estimate the impact of the HVAC system on the preventive conservation of the historical building, of the artefacts and of the occupants’ thermal comfort. Those simulations clarified which indoor microclimatic conditions could be guaranteed by the building itself, after the restoration project of the whole Palace started in 2001.

Hospitals require the highest energy demands in non-residential buildings. They provide healthcare 24/7/365 and, at the same time, they ensure indoor air quality, thermal comfort and sterility. However, several studies reveal that high indoor temperatures and low relative humidity (RH) are often perceived in patient rooms during the heating season, suggesting an important energy saving potential. Against this background, radiant ceiling panel (RCP) systems result to be one of the most appropriate solutions as they allow to achieve significant energy savings while providing the highest level of thermal and acoustic comfort, as well as of infection control. In the present study the microclimatic survey of a patient room at Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, Italy, equipped with an air conditioning system integrated with RCP, has reported occupant thermal discomfort. Experimental data were used to calibrate a building model and dynamic building energy simulations were carried out to analyse indoor air temperature, relative humidity, predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) indexes under different inlet air temperatures, to identify the best design conditions for energy efficiency and thermal comfort improvement. It was found that the highest advantages can be obtained when neutral air is supplied.

Recently, the requirements regarding the environment of nursing homes are high, because the elderly are a vulnerable group with limited adaptive capacity to respond to transient environmental change. This paper presents a field investigation on the influence of transient thermal comfort changes between the indoor and outdoor spaces (i.e., air temperature (Ta), solar radiation (SR), relative humidity (RH), wind speed (WS), and the thermal comfort indices of Universal Thermal Index (UTCI)) on the willingness of the elderly to use outdoor spaces of the Wanxia nursing home of Chengdu City. Results indicated that, in summer, the mean UTCI values of indoor and corridor spaces corresponded to the level of moderate heat stress, while those of road and garden corresponded to the strong heat stress level. Road and garden spaces even showed moderate heat stress in spring. Approximately 28.93% (139) of the elderly living here used outdoor spaces every day. The morning period (from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.) was the elderly’s favorited period for using outdoor spaces in seasons. The microclimatic transient differences between indoor and outdoor spaces ranged from 0.47 °C to 2.93 °C (|ΔTa|), from 86.09 W/m2 to 206.76 W/m2 (|ΔSR|), from 5.29% to 14.76% (ΔRH), from 0.01 m/s to 0.07 m/s (|ΔWS|), and from 0.25 °C to 2.25 °C (ΔUTCI). These big microclimate differences could cause enormous health risks for the elderly in the process of indoor and outdoor space conversion. The minimal transient change occurred between corridors and indoors. Pearson correlation analysis indicated ΔTa and ΔRH between indoor and outdoor spaces were the primary meteorological factors that influenced the elderly’s willing to use outdoor spaces. The elderly preferred to live in a constant Ta and RH environment. Only when the ΔTa and ΔRH are small enough to resemble a steady-state (ΔUTCI ≤ 0.5 °C), ΔWS and ΔSI could affect the elderly’s choice of using outdoor space. Optimal design strategies were put forward for reducing the transient differences between indoor and outdoor microclimates to inspire the elderly to use outdoor spaces safely, including improving outdoor canopy coverage and indoor mechanical ventilation.

Thermal design of building envelope and microclimatic conditions influence the indoor thermal comfort conditions and energy consumption of buildings. This paper presents the findings of study conducted to investigate the effect of building insulation on thermal impact and energy for cooling. The study were performed via computer simulation using a whole-building thermal energy software Integrated Environmental Solution (IES) with ApacheSim 5.9.2. The results show that pitch insulation (PITCH) was more effective to reduce the attic temperature but both pitch and wall insulation (WALL) had nominal thermal improvement for the indoor. However, compared to the BASE model, WALL model gave a significant savings of 41% for cooling

The article considers the current state of construction of enclosing walls with facade systems for southern latitudes with a hot climate, taking into account the thermal air envelope formed at the walls of buildings of different orientations under the condition of facade insolation. The influence of the total temperature on the external enclosing structure of buildings, depending on their orientation and the conditions of insolation, is determined. The significance of the external walls of buildings under different conditions of facade insolation in the regulation of the heat-wind regime of the wall microclimatic layer of the air and the room is revealed. The list of facade systems for improving the ventilation of the wall layer of air, premises and the territory adjacent to the building, which are of crucial importance in ensuring the microclimatic comfort of the indoor environment in the problem of improving the energy efficiency of buildings, is formulated.

A suitable indoor climate positively affects the lifespan of historical building structures. The path to an agreeable climate begins with monitoring current conditions. Considerable attention is given to monitoring the indoor climate of historical buildings. The motivation for monitoring air temperature and surface temperatures, relative air humidity or airflow can be, for example, the installation of heating, the occurrence of biotic damage, and others. Through the analysis of the most frequently used keywords, a strong connection was found, for example, between thermal comfort and the church. This review also summarises the various reasons for conducting microclimate monitoring studies in historical religious buildings on the European continent. It is supplemented with an evaluation of the monitoring methodology from the chosen period of the year point of view, the measured parameters, and the length of the interval between the recordings of quantities. It was found that in more than one-third of the cases, the recording time was less than or equal to 15 min, but mostly less than or equal to 1 h. Quite often, monitoring results are used to calibrate a simulation model describing the hydrothermal behaviour of a historical object under various operation alternatives (e.g., influence of ventilation, climate change, occupancy, etc.). This way, it is possible to test various intelligent systems in the virtual world without much risk before they are used in an actual building application.

The study of thermo-hygrometric comfort in hospitals involves several factors: the presence of different subjects: patients, operators, visitors; different conditions of hospitalization: patients bedridden or out of bed; psychological aspects and therapeutic treatments. In this paper, the analysis focuses on patients in ordinary hospitalization rooms of a hospital located in southern Italy. Different room orientations, several characteristics, and specific factors concerning hospitalized patients’ conditions that significantly influence the comfort indices have been considered. In total, 41 scenarios have been defined and analyzed by means of two comfort models: static and adaptive. The study aims to investigate the application of these models to the complex environment of hospitals, finding strengths and weaknesses, which also results in a re-definition of the HVAC system operation. Results show that patient position (in bed or out), clothing type, and level of coverage in the bed can make the same microclimatic condition more suitable for one scenario over another. Furthermore, room exposure has an effect on the comfort of the indoor temperature. The seasonal analyses highlight that during summer, for all scenarios considering bedridden patients, more than 50% of the PMV calculated values are out of the comfort zone. In winter, the indoor conditions are good for bedridden patients with a cover level of 67% during the nighttime (almost 100% PMV values in comfort zone), while during the daytime, they are more suitable for a 48% coverage level if the patient is in bed or if they are walking (lower than 10% dissatisfied).

Microclimatic conditions and thermal comfort are important factors in the design of high quality buildings and the quality of working conditions for people in different operations. The importance of thermal comfort in the indoor environment can not be underestimated. A vast majority of complaints about indoor climate relate to poor thermal comfort. This paper presents an analysis of subjective thermal comfort measurement. The experiments were conducted to collect the data in the real conditions. ComfortSense system was used in these experiments. A Humidity and an Operative probe are available together with application software with graphical presentation of results including the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD). The operating conditions are regulated by law in our country. The aim of the legislation is to protect people in the working environment and create appropriate health conditions for them. The goal of a thermal comfort analysis is finding an appropriate function of the physical parameters (background radiant temperature, air temperature, air humidity, wind speed, clothing, metabolic rate, and core temperature), which would yield the corresponding comfort/discomfort level.